Assembly debates management of local residency law

HA NOI (VNS)— The management of residency and temporary residency registrations for Vietnamese attracted many concerns by deputies at the plenary discussion of the13th National Assembly on Saturday.

Discussing a bill on amending some articles in the residency law, deputy Ngo Thi Minh from northern Quang Ninh Province said that loosening registration in big provinces and cities had created difficulties in managing the emigration of workers to other cities.

The problem was especially acute when involving children moving from rural to urban areas.

"Many children who were victims of labour exploitation or sexual abuse, haven't been protected because they did not register for temporary residence at their working or living places," said Minh.

To handle problems faced by people moving from rural to urban areas, Minh suggested the law should add regulations to provide temporary residence for 18-year-olds.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy from central Da Nang City said it was necessary to tighten residence management in big provinces and cities to ensure security and public order. Thuy said the law should regulate one residency place for each person. People on the move should register their most frequent address.

Relating to conditions for permanent residence registration in provinces and cities, Thuy and many other lawmakers agreed that provincial and city people's councils would decide minimum living space based on permanent residency.

Deputies also agreed that the time for temporary residence would be at least one year in provinces and cities directly under the central Government and two years in inner districts of these provinces and cities with the aim of reducing population densities.

Deputies also focused on fake marriages and falsified recruitment documents, time-limit of temporary residence before registering for permanent residence in provinces and cities directly under the Central Government or time-limit for procedure of changing permanent residence place in case of changing living place legally or validity of temporary residence book.

Most of deputies agreed with the bill's proposal to extend temporary residence from 12 months to 24 months to strengthen management and reduce administrative procedures.

On Saturday, deputies continued to look at draft laws at the plenary meeting of the ongoing fifth session.

Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Thai Binh delivered a report on the draft law with amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Emulation and Reward. Head of the NA Committee for Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai presented verification results of the draft law.

Later in the morning, the draft law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Residence Law was tabled for discussion. Sixteen deputies presented opinions focusing on activities that should be banned in this field, conditions for permanent residence registration in centrally-governed cities and validity terms of temporary residence registration, among others.

In the afternoon, lawmakers separated into groups to debate the draft law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Law on Emulation and Reward and the draft Law on Employment.

Today, they are expected to cast votes of confidence on persons holding positions elected or approved by the NA. — VNS